In the aftermath of the terrible shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, I turn again to the mournful longing of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.
We sang the six verses in our hymnal at our church Christmas banquet to start off the Advent/Christmas season, and then the next morning we sang all six verses again for our Sunday morning worship service. For some that might have already been too much, but the song has stayed with me since then. Here are the two very different versions that I keep listening to:
From The Future of Forestry, an alternative band from Southern California, whose name comes from the C.S. Lewis poem, The Future of Forestry:
And from The Piano Guys whose name is taken from a piano store in St. George, Utah, once owned by one of the members of the group:
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April Yamasaki 
Steve Bell has a great new rendition of this as well on his newly released CD Keening for the Dawn. I’ve heard more of this carol this Advent than any other. it seems to fit the longings of our day.
Thanks, Elsie, I hadn’t heard Steve Bell’s version–a more up-tempo version with some spoken parts/new words from Malcolm Guite’s poetry. http://stevebell.com/2012/10/both-ancient-and-new-o-come-o-come-emmanuel-revisited/ Love it!
a favorite hymn of Christmas– thank you for those two beautiful renditions, both new to me.